25 May 2015

After Sunday's 6-1 humbling at Stoke City, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is - in the eyes of some fans - a dead man walking at Anfield, and if FSG decide to pull the chain on tenure at LFC, outgoing Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp remains a popular choice to take over.

Klopp - recently described by Ilkay Gundogan as a 'world-class' manager - is currently 6/4 favourite to replace Rodgers, and it seems like he'd be a popular choice amongst the fanbase.

Indeed, I posted a poll last month asking fans to choose between Klopp and Rodgers, and the results were emphatic:

For many fans, Reds legend Steven Nicol summed it up perfectly on ESPN last month:

"If I'm the owner, and a guy like Jurgen Klopp is available, I'm going for Klopp. They've already given him [Rodgers] a lot of money. You put the two resumes together and there's only one winner"

In a head-to-head comparison between Klopp and Rodgers, there's no contest, but despite the doom and gloom at Anfield right now, Liverpool's beleaguered manager is only at 66-1 to be sacked this summer.

For some, sacking Rodgers seems like a no-brainer, but the decision may ultimately come down to a simple matter of economics. According to the BBC:

"Rodgers' current deal would mean that even if FSG were to lose faith in their manager, it could cost as much as £10m to sack him. And the same again to hire a replacement"

The big question to consider: Is Rodgers failing in his job to such an extent that FSG will feel compelled to shell out £10m+ just to get rid of him?

I can't see it.

Over the last six years, Liverpool have wasted tens of millions paying off Benitez, Parry, Dalglish, and Hodgson, and it makes little financial sense to go down the same route with Rodgers, especially with the ongoing stadium redevelopment expense.

For me, it's going to be very difficult for Rodgers to win back the fanbase after the embarrassing 6-1 drubbing at Stoke, and if he stays, he'll be under even more intense pressure next season.

As soon Liverpool suffer one bad result, the knives will be out, and after last summer's atrocious performance in the transfer market, fans will be even more unforgiving of poor decisions this time around.

Rodgers has now experienced a huge high (almost winning the league), and a considerable low (dropping to 6th after a 6-1 thrashing) in the space of a year, and it's possible that he may become a better manager as a result of those experiences.

An immediate return to the Champions League is an absolute necessity, but is Rodgers capable of achieving that next year? I personally believe the answer is YES. Liverpool will only need to improve by 8-10 points next season to make the Champions League, and that is absolutely possible.

If Daniel Sturridge had been available all season, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that Liverpool would've finished in the Champions League places this year.

That's not an excuse for the capitulation at the beginning and end of this season, though, and Liverpool should have higher ambitions that just scraping into the top four.

Read More From L-Kop

221 comments:

The decision on Rodgers will reveal to us the extent to which FSG want us to succeed on the pitch.

They may abandon their goal of regular CL football, deciding instead to allow a cheap manager to keep us safely in the top ten, yet outside of Euro places, whilst they cash in on the incredible revenue generating aspects of the worlds richest club.

That's my concern.

Or, they will cut their losses on the experiement of hiring a young, inexperienced manager with zero previous success, hire a bona fide manager and make another push for top 4.

I fear they will take the former option as they have increased off the pitch revenue, whilst slashing the wage bill by selling or giving away high earners, leading me to worry that they might be happy to milk the cash cow that is LFC.

There are some reports that FSG will concider the transfer commite and make changes which means transfer comitte is the one FSG blames for bad work and not Rodgers.

Many times I said take Ronaldo and Benzema from Real Madrid and see what you get. Take 50 goals Ronaldo score from Real and you gt Real n ot even fighting for the first place in a league.

This happened to LFC. Without a proper strike you can't score. And this year was a year without proper striker. Look at Chelsea. Last year they have problems scoring and in the summer they bought Costa and Remy. And you can see the difference.

Add two top striker this summer to LFC and we are in the game again.

And one more thing. They say Klopp is the one which should be a rescuer for Liverpool. They are wrong. As you can see Borusia is in the same situation. They lost top strikers/players and without them is not possible to be competitive. And what has Klopp done? Left the ship...

"Listen back to interviews past players have given about the way they left, players like Pepe Reina and Daniel Agger, listen to how they talk about being told one thing by the manager, only for him to do another. Word from the dressing room is that this is still going on now, and Rodgers seems oblivious to it."

The players aren't stupid, they have to work with this guy every day.

We laugh at the things Brendan says, but the players must cringe.

They are the ones whose careers are in his hands and I guess they have reached their limit with him.

"Even throwing a generous pinch of salt in with the gossip leaking from the dressing room there are far too many in there who have lost all respect for him. Forget the nice PR-friendly stuff churned out through official club outlets, far too many players are left baffled at his decisions and disappointed at his treatment not only of them but of their teammates."

As the above alludes to, BR's reign of BS words and actions has led to the players not having any faith in him (being kind)......with the resulting loss of faith played out so visibly on the pitch.

I think FSG and Ian Ayre have every intention of riding this storm of disgust out.With the hope that they can keep BR and smooth over the problems with a few reforms.

I predict we are in for a marathon to get rid of BR and that many fans need to steal themselves for that.

John W Henry clearly doesn't seem see what the fans have seen all season.My view is that the ONLY WAY to get them to remove BR is that they lose money through gate receipts, merchandise, shirt sales that it forces there hand.

Be prepared for a long old slog to shift BR as FSG will try and stick with the 'philosophy'.

Mistakes have been made and every transfer has a certain percentage of gamble involved.My only concern is the lack of passion and fight from our team this year - even when we were winning.In my opinion this comes from the manager and his team. The other thing, and yes it may be a small one, but he brought Lambert into the squad (life long supporter and a fighter) but preferred Balotelli (more skill maybe but lack of fight) - this worries me about Rodgers.I wouldn't get rid of Rodgers but maybe he needs to bring in someone to help him because he doesn't see to be able to motivate the players. Most of the games we lost this year wasn't (IMO) down to wrong tactics or formation but player performance & motivation - and this is were Rodgers is lacking, I think.On the other hand he hasn't shown any indication he has learnt to solve this over the three years he has been manager - so I think either he brings in someone to help or someone comes into replace him.I hope he stays as he has built a good foundation for success and I believe a lot of the players he has brought in have underperformed - but he has to start learning from his mistakes ( maybe he is too nice).

In the end it will be cheaper to sack Rodgers getting back in to cl is a must and was one of targets set by fsg, the owners are winners and br will pay the price,, Rodgers has lost the dressing room, wasted millions, failed yet again to win a single cup, his tactics are all over the place and lost the faith of the supporters, it will be a miracle if he doesn't get sacked

Good points there Septimus mate. They reflect my fear. These are first and foremost businessmen. I'm dead certain Rodgers will be here come August and as you say, it'll take the better of next season, no matter how poor our results may be, to get rid of BR.

But how much will replacing Rodgers and missing out on qualifying for CL next season cost? Getting in a new manager doesn't equal top four, whoever comes in will have a massive job to do, basically replacing around 10 players that would probably be leaving (Brad, Jose, Glen, Kolo, Stevie, Lucas, Rickie, Raheem, Fabio and Mario at least) and trying to get a new group to work well together, as well as trying to get form out of players who are better than this season has shown. Massive task and I tip my hat to any who takes it on. I dont care if its Rodgers, Klopp, De Boer, Ancelotti, whoever it is will have their work cut out for them.

- Mismanagement of players: he keeps playing players out of position. As an example we had Sahin who is an excellent footballer, but BR decided to play him out of position as usual. So he left. Our loss.

- Constant gross over praise of players (he is one of the reasons for the whole Sterling fiasco, and is doing the same thing to Ibe. You don't hear Mourinho etc... Constantly ego massaging his players to the press)

- Takes too long to adjust/change non-working tactics (took him too long to ditch the 4 at the back for a 3 then when clearly 3 at the back had been found out he was not pro-active enough to change things around)

- Has wasted a tremendous amount of money

- Cannot motivate players

As a result my trust in him is gone (for the moment).

We need clarity of how transfer are being decided at the club. I'm sure certain signings were not down to BR: Balotelli, Moreno etc...

The fact is BR has limited experience and this shows, he has a very "youth coach" approach to managing and treats his team like so.

FSG, show your strength and do what is necessary. What Neville said about is is true, as a club we've let "emotions" drag us back. We are too sentimental and we expect our players to win us the league when we have not done so in over 20 years, the fact we are at the same level as Tottenham, and they are much better than us.

Stop being so sentimental and let's start taking a business stance / approach like United, Arsenal, City, Chelsea etc... Their approach may not be the "Liverpool way" but it's the "Liverpool way" that has held us up for so long.

Also, let's us stop this whole nonsense of calling for a marquee singing, Liverpool have seldom done this in their history. The only "world class" player we bought was probably Dalglish who was already at Celtic.

Players like Mascherano, Pepe, Torres, Alonso, Suárez, Hyppia... Were not "world class" when we bought them, they became "world class" or showed consistent "world class form" while at Liverpool. Historically we do not buy world class players, we make them... Them sell them on.

as a premier leaque club,real will not need ronaldo to win sunderland,aston villa,wesbrown,crystal palace and hull city. rodgers lost 3pts to aston villa,4pts to hull city,2pts to westbrown,6pts to cystal palace, and 3pts to nwecastel.do you need ur best team to get half of tyhese 18pts and gualify to the champions leaque? NO. rodgers needs to just GO if he needs some respect.

Like I said in another post, It would be to expensive to sack him so why not move him sideways like the government do when they want rid of somebody ? So just move him sideways to the Academy till his contract runs out then get rid unless he proves himself that he is good with kids, Sorry all you RAFA haters I prefer him to Klopp as he knows and loves LFC and I think he knows now that the League is more important He is not a yes man but he will make money for the bosses FSG which I recon they would like MORE MONEY.

Didn't Klopp also have a similar poor last season, so is he a real upgrade? I would still prefer Rafa. No, I am not a fan boy just would like someone who has been there and done that in LFC. Yes, if Daniel was well, we surely would be top 4 that is certain, as this team still reached top 6 after the horrible start is saying something. I would like to give BR till Dec to do the job, but either way, real changes are required.

I'll be honest, although I've lost confidence in Rodgers at the moment, getting rid may cause more problems than it solves at this stage. If and it's a big if we bring in say a Klopp or an Ancelotti, would they actually do much better than Rodgers with the squad we have? I'm not entirely sure the owners would be ready to scrap the blue print currently in place right now and follow a new one, which they would inevitably have to do should they re-hire. Especially as it would involve a huge outlay which I'm not sure they're ready to provide.

Similar to LFC last season, reached the top almost and then sold their best player and 2nd best was sick.So the coaches r both similar in their present/last seasons: regression.....right? But agreed for building Borussia D...

Why Liverpool are in good shape:1) Top youth academy2) Club back in the black financially3) Big commercial deals4) Massive TV money5) Stadium expansion underway6) Massive worldwide support7) Young squad8) FSG don't interfere in day to day operationsAll we need is a leader to guide us on the pitch, Jurgen Klopp is that man, his players loved him. Everything is set-up at Liverpool for the right man?, Brendan Rodgers was NEVER the right man.......................he and Roberto Martinez should NEVER have been interviewed by FSG..................their CV's are average at best.

The idea that we will only need an extra 8-10 points to finish top four is very optimistic. We should have easily made top four this season as United where on the ropes with their third manager in 3 seasons. We should have condemned United to another season out of the CL but we didn't. Next season will be even harder with other ambitious teams like Spurs, Southampton and even Everton pushing for a top 5 finish. Rodgers may have gained more experience but he, Pascoe & Marsh are all still amateurs in comparison to the the management and coaching set ups at Chelsea, City, Arsenal and United.If we are serious about competing with the elite, then we need an experienced manager with experienced coaches. I was all for giving Rodgers and Pascoe a chance but they have failed and will continue to fail because to win the Premiership and compete at the highest level in Europe you need Respect, Knowledge and Experience, all Rodgers has apparently is outstanding knowledge.

JK had an article that when LFC reached #3 or #2 ( along that lines), the next season they regressed... it came true this season. Just agreeing to that article that history repeats itself again.How do I find that article, as I can't find a search box or is my ad blocker blocking it?

BR was the whistle blower and blamed the committee for this season mishap. He was in constant contact with FSG. Some senior staff and players are getting agitated by his antics of not taking responsibility instead whistle blow everyone except himself. When things go right he bask himself in the limelight, when things go bad he points fingers in front of FSG.

Surly the cost of abject failure can be offset against the cost of sacking him.he has failed in their minimum requirement of champions league football.how bad would it need to be before they decided enough is enough.maybe the only way for fsg will listen is buy us fans making a stand & hurting them where its most painful.if every season ticket holder refuses to renew their ticket until he is sacked the issue may be forced.fsg must learn the fans are the most important part in all of this.

People say FSG wasted money?, wrong it was BR, over the last 3 transfer windows on £21m net was spent, most was from sales etc..................................money is there for the right man, not forgetting that FFP is now being relaxed.

HE IS PART !!! He is not committee hiimself. So committee together with Rodgers blew the money. Not Rodgers himself.

And how many years Klopp needed in BD to have success? He is there from 2008. that means 7 years. And when he was brought in BD was already established club in Germany comparing to LFC which started to build from scratch after Rodgers was brought.

I think respect is the biggest factor. Rodgers & his coaching team do not demand any respect from players because they have achieved nothing in the game either as players or coaches. You can have all the finest patter and confidence with the greatest technical gizmos but without respect all they do is buy a little time. That time is now up.

I see business and managing appointments as 2 different things Rodgers future at Liverpool solely rests on advice they are given.Much of the recruitment of players will be the interest but i see next year as an improvement on this season, although with player movements probably another in transition regardless of who manages us.I dont see FSG selling the club until the stadium improvements are finished as it should add to clubs value overall.

how the poor season? next weekend the final of the Cup, played quarter-finals of the CL, .. I also like Rafa, but what the season had in Napoli? And honestly speaking, Naples is full of top players in comparison to what he had Klopp.

I don 't think FSG are looking to sell the club at all, though I might be wrong.

I see it more like, they are upping the global revenue, whilst at the same time continuing to slash the wage bill, leading me to wonder if they will be happy for us to 'tick-over' as a money maker for them.

Always dreamed of buying Liverpool football club but I wouldn't like to be the one that has to decide our managerial situation... A real tough one, and if FSG gets it right and back up financially whoever is in charge next season, than hats off..

We are unable to attract cream of the crop players with Rodgers in charge. The other thing we have discovered is that he simply is not good enough to take this club forward.

So this is the situation, stick with Rodgers and face another season of the unknown or make a change and try rectify the damage which has been caused.

I highly doubt FSG will replace Rodgers with another manager who is still learning his trade. That project has failed miserably. They can ill afford to have another season like we did this time round. Hopefully they have finally learned from their mistakes since taking over LFC.

The next move FSG make will be either a director of football and coach or an experienced manager.

Answer to your question: Singing a new manager and not qualifying for CL next season will set the club back again but here is the difference which will explain my point better. Keeping Rodgers, not qualifying for the CL next season, having him spending more money on dross in the summer and then sacking him at the end of next season because he failed again and then having to find a replacement when LFC have gone even further behind will be the ultimate disaster for the club.

Good points, and points that seem to be getting a bit lost while everyone froths at the mouth for BR's sacking. I'm ambivalent myself; BR would have my full support if he stays but I'm open also open to change, if it improves our lot. The problem is that we can cry out for whichever manager we like but that doesn't make them a viable, realistic option, nor is it a certainty that any of the frequently mentioned (big) names will actually want the job. Amongst all the furore there are assumptions being made that we will be able to appoint a big name coach which will result in 'marquee signings' and a top four place, which, in my opinion, couldn't be further from reality.

How much will it cost us to keep him? He's already wasted over £200 million on rubbish, the team he's 'built' for that much money is a joke.I think paying him off would be as good as a new signing. Totally out of his depth.

He's lost his dignity already with all the past results. We are the joke of the Premier League and everyone is laughing at us. If I was Rodgers, I would milk the club for everything I have got because he may never get a job like this again.

But they were marquee signings when they came, Suarez, Torres, Mascherano, Alonso, etc. Rodgers try to sign excelent foreign players, but they don't want to come to him. Dalglish even did not try to sign these kind of players, just overpriced english mediocre.

Re: Madrid or us, lot's of factors go into a decision like that, not just club stature.

E.g. Real might not give him the control over operations he wants, might not give him the contract security he wants (Real aren't shy in sacking managers), might not agree to other demands he might make etc.

Also, at Real, he likely wouldn't be as revered as he would be here. And then there are the family considerations.

Jaimie, I really don't know how you retain such belief in Rodgers. Perhaps it is possible that he will become better for it, but how much better will he become? What's the chance he'll become substantially better? It should be emphasised that this is Liverpool, not West Ham, or Swansea, or Stoke. Liverpool shouldn't be an environment where a relatively young manager can afford to make f*** up after f*** up after f*** up, like he's still undertaking his managerial apprenticeship. This isn't a classroom, it's the real world where results should be demanded.

I just don't feel that FSG will be so apprehensive about getting rid of this failed manager just because of losing 20m over it. If it means cutting 20m from the transfer budget, so be it.

"It should be emphasised that this is Liverpool, not West Ham, or Swansea, or Stoke. Liverpool shouldn't be an environment where a relatively young manager can afford to make f*** up after f*** up after f*** up, like he's still undertaking his managerial apprenticeship."

This.

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills, sometimes.("You don't need no pills to make you crazy, you dopey sausage" shouts a voice from the back of the hall)

Another thing to add is the team motivation. In the last two games, two emotionally important games for their captain, they failed to get up. They failed to get up against ordinary teams; I think they tied their limbs down against Stoke. It's the manager's job to motivate the team. Yes, there is onus on the players to motivate themselves too, but in saying that, if the players can't muster enough desire to put in a good shift for their captain in his last two games, then that would suggest they're not really playing for their manager either. If a team is unmotivated, then it's probably because they're unmotivated to play for their manager.

If FSG are the astute business men we all hope they are, then hopefully they'll see that keeping BR now is likely to end up costing them more than £10m come the end of next season.I'm a BR supporter but we just can't keep him now, who's going to realistically want to sign for him given the Stoke result? I know it's only one game, but that game would have had a lot of attention in the footballing world being Stevie's last game and for some players, foreign especially, would probably be the only LFC game they have taken notice of this season.Get Klopp in asap and give him whatever money he needs to bring some of his players with him.Unfortunately for BR it's 150% a no-brainer.

"We asked Independent.co.uk readers whether they wanted to see Rodgers sacked after the Stoke defeat and the answer was a resounding YES.

More than 5,000 people voted in our poll and a whopping 87.15 per cent said that Rodgers should be sacked by Liverpool.

In fact, of 5,323 total votes, 4,639 voters said 'yes' with only 684 (12.85 per cent) saying 'no'. Of course not all voters are necessarily Liverpool fans, but it is reasonable to assume that a large number are."

Hmmm....

I like how they mention that not all those who voted might be LFC fans...

What is the point in playing over 60 games in the season and even not qualify for the CL? I don't see any consolation in qualifying for the round 1/32. Le'ts face it were are not gonna with it, at least with this squad, it will only harm our chances of finishing in the top 4 and we're probably gonna be beaten by some team from Turkey!

I don't blame FSG for wanting to make their own mark on the club. It's totally understandable for them to want to bring in their own men and make their own hires.

Just been tough these last 5 years since he left. We were almost perennial CL players under Rafa, and, after being embarrassed in this years tourney...and then ousted immediately from the Europa, I'd be happy with 4th place and a Euro run.

This is the thing Rodgers is an nearly man. From the number of big games he has had so far Rodgers has failed to get his team over the line. For his big moment to be (almost winning the league) but his actions to be like he has won the league shows me that he is comfortable at losing.

I watched the class of 92 the other day and it was interesting that the man u players mention that f.a cup win over Liverpool as the turning point in their treble wining season. For me that was a turning point in the Gerard Houllier era, young players like Cara and Owen grew into men during the match as Liverpool fought to the death and Houllier's post match interview words of saying "One day we will beat them" are the most poweful words I have heard from a Liverpool manager. Houllier knew that even though the had lost the match Liverpool had gone through a threshold to a new level as a team that to go toe to toe with the best team in the league. Liverpool went on to beat untied 6 times on the bounce which included our treble winning season.

I mention this because I find very hard to see Rodgers next moment for breaking through that threshold He could have an ok season next year and still blow it at the end and that would of been a waste of a year waiting to see if the team has improved.

The Man U/ Villa games was the true tests and Liverpool/Rodgers failed big time and they have played like a team broken ever since.

Rodgers is a good manager and maybe this experience will make him a better manager in the future...but I don't think that will be at Liverpool.

Rodgers going is worth the £10m if it means Klopp can be brought in, sometimes a team has to cut it's losses as Rodgers has cost them far more in wasted transfer money and more than likely will do the same given the chance. We need the guidance of a proven manager who has won things and Klopp is the perfect candidate for the job and I have no doubt what so ever he will get us back in the champions league at the first time of asking as the style Rodgers has tried to implement is not that different than Klopps but the difference is Klopp has far more success and experience on the bigger stage. Rodgers failed big time this season in the league, cups and Europe I don't think he deserves another season as the team have regressed and his signings have failed to make any real impact.

Don't buy it that Rodgers is a good manager and now seriously doubt that he is even a better coach ( which FSG were sold on in the first place ) He has publicly stated that anyone can coach a team how to defend and refused to appoint a defence coach .We conceded 50 goals last season and although spending £100 mill in the Summer to sort it we have conceded 48 goals this season ... An improvement of 3 less ! To put it in perspective Hull who were relegated conceded 51 ..... Will the owners be confident that Rodgers is capable of changing things next season ?

What really confusses me is why would BR take Sterling to Stoke ,knowing he was not going to play .Surely Jerome Sinclair should have gone along ?and on the trip to Hull, BR leave Gerrard at home knowing we can get a CL spot ?

Don't think it will cost anything like £10m - could very well have performance related clause(s) in contract re qualifying for CL obtaining a trophy etc.Whatever - Rodgers will be more than adequately rewarded for our dismall season

Anyways Sterling had the last laugh as he couldn't be blamed for this one .... on the contrary he might argue that he would have made the difference ?The way the others played ( or rather didn't ) it looked as though they agreed with him

Of course they cannot = his great Belgium Wonderkid has just won WORST STRIKER IN FRANCE AWARD - Give me strength - £10 million is cheap to get rid of B R - then get rid of Sterling using the monies to buy Klopp and Reus - JOB DONEa

Very true! I look at it this way what would be the sell on value of most of the players brought in? Far less than what has been paid. Missing out on the champions league has cost more than it would cost to sack Rodgers. Value lost on signings would cost less than Rodgers getting the sack, Aspas, Llori, Alberto, Balottelli and Lallana are perfect examples does anybody trully think we would get anything like the fee paid so £210m+ late. So doing nothing and allowing Rodgers another season could potentially be more damaging than taking the risk on Klopp or bringing back Rafa. In all honesty if Rodgers is still in the job next season I will back him and the team regardless but sometimes bold decisions are needed to take the club forward, his own mortal words where judge me after 3 seasons and the end note on this swan song was a 6-1 drubbing, no champions league, no trophies, £210m+ spent and not much to show for it, 52 goals scored and 48 against, top goalscorer 'Gerrard' who leaves for LA Galaxy, Weighing up the facts the failure speaks for itself and there is no shying away from the facts.

I was all for giving Rodgers another season and believe in getting behind our managers and giving them a fair crack of the whip which is after all the LFC way . Must admit I was drunk on our performances of last season and believed , along with everyone else including Stevie who begged FSG to give him a new contract , Rodgers was da man ... I really thought that we would make CL or at least the FA cup Final in Stevie' s last season . And then the humiliation of losing to Palace at Anfield and finally yesterday's thrashing at Stoke was the last straw ! Rodgers has lost all credibilityand it's impossible to imagine how he along with many of the players he signed will be able to ' fix it ' for next season . After all if he couldn't do it after the high of last and with the amount of money available then . Team morale must be at an all time low ....How on earth is he going to turn things around now ??

Something to be said for Rodgers, he brought back the This is Anfield sign, he changed the nets back to Red, and he filled the academy with as many ex pro's as he could get away with.....Why he had to implement all this in the first place confuses me.... But he does really buy into the whole Liverpool Way ethos....